Begins sculpture with Fiore de Henriques.
1954
March–April, Royal Academy, Diploma Gallery: Exhibition of Works by Augustus John OM, RA (460 exhibits). Portrait of Lord Leverhulme repaired. Walker Art Gallery: Exhibition of Augustus John pictures with Liverpool associations.
November, Nuffield House, Guy’s Hospital, prostate gland operation.
December (till March 1955), Spain.
1955
February, ‘Some Portraits from Memory’ published by the London Magazine.
March, bronze head of Yeats purchased for the Abbey Theatre, Dublin.
19 September, letter to The Times on the rights of gypsies.
November, Wales. Drawings of John Cowper Powys.
1956
August, France.
September, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield: Paintings (43), Drawings (88) and Prints (15).
1957
4 November, interviewed by Malcolm Muggeridge on BBC TV Panorama: ‘Have you always wanted to be a painter?’ ‘Give me another hundred years and I would become a very good one.’
December, Fifty-two Drawings, with an Introduction by Lord David Cecil, published by Rainbird.
1958
Joins British Peace Committee.
1959
29 October, given the Honorary Freedom of Tenby.
1960
Elected first president of the Contemporary Art Society for Wales.
4 January, eighty-second birthday. ‘Work as usual’ (Daily Telegraph).
12 May, interviewed by John Freeman on BBC Face to Face television programme.
14 October, letter praising the work of Matthew Smith in the Daily Telegraph.
1961
15 March–30 March, Tooth’s Gallery: Paintings and Drawings not previously illustrated.
31 October, dies at Fryern Court.
5 November, obituary programme, BBC TV Monitor.
1962
20 July, Christie’s first studio sale.
Augustus John by John Rothenstein published by Beaverbrook Newspapers Ltd.
1963
21 June, Christie’s second studio sale.
1964
12 November, Finishing Touches published by Jonathan Cape.
1965
1–30 April, Upper Grosvenor Galleries: Loan Exhibition of Drawings and Murals by Augustus John OM, RA, in aid of the Augustus John Memorial Appeal.
1967
The Drawings of Augustus John, with an Introduction by Stephen Long-street, published by the Borden Publishing Company, California.
1 October, memorial statue by Ivor Roberts-Jones unveiled by Lord Mountbatten at Fordingbridge.
1968
18 July, Harlech Television, Augustus John programme.
1969
24 July, Dorelia dies at Fryern Court.
1970
25 October–14 November, The University of Hull: ‘Augustus John: Portraits of the Artist’s Family’.
1971
2–28 December, Lefevre Gallery: Drawings by Augustus John (36 pictures).
1972
Over 1,000 drawings, no paintings and 3 bronzes, the last remains of the artist’s studio, purchased by the National Museum of Wales.
November, Dalhousie Art Gallery, Halifax, Nova Scotia: Augustus John (40 pictures, catalogue by Ernest W. Smith).
1974
September, Malcolm Easton and Michael Holroyd, The Art of Augustus John published. Colnaghi’s: ‘Augustus John: Early Drawings and Etchings’ (162 exhibits, catalogue essays by Malcolm Easton and Michael Holroyd).
October, London Weekend Television Aquarius programme, Augustus John, with Richard Burton (producer, Humphrey Burton).
1975
25 March–31 August, National Portrait Gallery, London: ‘Augustus John, Paintings and Drawings’.
30 May–26 October, National Portrait Gallery, London: ‘Augustus John. Life and Times’ (catalogues for both exhibitions by Malcolm Easton and Romilly John).
1978
15 April–21 May, National Museum of Wales Centenary exhibition, ‘Augustus John: Studies for Compositions’ (catalogue by A. D. Fraser Jenkins).
October–December, Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge: ‘Augustus John: Paintings, Prints and Drawings in the Fitzwilliam Museum’ (128 exhibits, catalogue Foreword by Michael Jaffe). BBC TV South, Augustus John (producer John Coleman).
1979
Augustus John by Richard Shone published.
17 December, Augustus John papers sold at Sotheby’s for £52,000 to anonymous buyer in the United States.
1982
August, Mostyn Art Gallery, Llandudno: ‘Some Miraculous Promised Land: J. D. Innes, Augustus John and Derwent Lees in North Wales 1910–13’ (catalogue by Eric Rowan).
1985
21 November–9 February 1986, Manchester City Art Gallery: ‘Augustus John and Friends’. Exhibition in conjunction with ‘Gwen John: an Interior Life’ (28 November–26 January 1986).
1988
June, Augustus John papers sold by private treaty at Sotheby’s to National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. National Museum of Wales: ‘Portraits by Augustus John: Family, Friends and the Famous’ (50 exhibits, catalogue by Mark Evans).
1991
3–27 July, Piccadilly Gallery, London: ‘Augustus John Paintings, Drawings, Etchings’ (4 oils, 38 drawings, 12 etchings, catalogue by Rebecca John). Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan’s Augustus John Papers published by the National Library of Wales.
21 September–17 November, Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea: ‘Passionate Visions. Gwen John and Augustus John’ (52 exhibits, catalogue by David Fraser Jenkins).
1994
29 July–4 August, Mercury Gallery, London: single work exhibition, cartoon of ‘The Mumpers’.
December, HTV Wales, Augustus John: King of Bohemia programme.
1995
Mark Lewis, Augustus John (pamphlet published by Tenby Museum & Art Gallery, including list of works in the gallery’s collection).
1996
July–September, National Museums and Galleries of Wales, Cardiff ‘Themes and Variations: The drawings of Augustus John 1901–1931’. Augustus John. Papers at the National Library of Wales by Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan published.
Appendix Eight
LOCATIONS OF JOHN MANUSCRIPTS
The story of how the main collection of Augustus John Papers reached the National Library of Wales is told in my preface. There are, however, many other John letters and manuscripts in Britain and abroad. I have not been able to trace all the correspondence that was privately owned twenty-five years ago, though correspondence that I did not see then I have now seen in galleries, libraries and museums. The following list of John papers held in public collections will I hope be useful, but I do not claim it is definitive.
WALES
The National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
The catalogue of Augustus John papers purchased and donated between 1988 and 1991, compiled in 1991 by Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, provides a calendar of letters from Augustus John to Dorelia McNeill (NLW MSS 22776–8) and various other correspondents (NLW MS 22775); letters to Augustus John (NLW MSS 22779–87) and to Dorelia McNeill (NLW MS 22789); two groups of letters from Ida John (NLW MSS 22788, 22798); miscellaneous letters (NLW MS 22790); sketchbooks (NLW MSS 22791–4); prose and verse (NLW MSS 22795–6); Nettleship and John family papers (NLW MSS 22799–803); and miscellaneous papers (NLW MS 22797).
The catalogue also refers to other Augustus John material at the library, including seventy-one letters to Michel Salaman (NLW MS 14928D); one letter to J. C. Squire (NLW MS 16098E); seven letters to Mrs Goeritz and Ruth King, together with ten letters to Peter Heseltine, ‘Peter Warlock’ (NLW MS 18909D); ten letters with sketches to Ursula Tyrwhitt (NLW MS 19645C); thirty-seven letters, together with autograph drafts of verse, to John Sampson (NLW MS 21459E); three letters to Ernest Forbes, one letter to Eric Kennington, two letters to C. K. Ogden and one letter to Robert Gregory (NLW MS 21482D);
twenty-eight letters to various correspondents including Laura Knight and Frances Stevenson, together with some autobiographical writings (NLW MS 21570E); fifty-nine letters to John Davenport (NLW MS 21585E); twenty-one letters to Bapsy Pavry and three letters to her brother (NLW MS 21622D); one letter to Caitlin Macnamara (NLW MS 21698E); one letter to ‘Kitty’ [McGee] (NLW MS 21818D); one letter to John Cowper Powys (NLW MS 21872D); ten letters to Sean O’Casey and seven letters to George Bilainkin (NLW MS 21980C); four letters to Villiers Bergne (NLW MS 22022C); one letter to the Rev. R. J. Jones (Papers of the Rev. R. J. Jones, Cardiff); eighteen letters and four telegrams to Alicia Gower Jones (Miss Olive Mary Jones Bequest).
There are also two letters from Augustus John to Ceri Richards at the library (NLW MS 23007E); one letter to Keidrych Rhys (NLW MS 22745D); one letter to Hugh Blaker and one letter to R. A. Maynard (Dr Thomas Jones Collection); one letter to Emlyn Williams (Emlyn Williams Scrapbook II); one letter to Port Talbot Forum (NLW MS 23186E); an appreciation of J. D Innes (NLW MS 11067C); and papers relating to exhibitions from the Welsh Arts Council Archives.
Ten letters from Augustus John to the composer Joseph Holbrooke were bought at Sotheby’s on 24 July 1995 (lot 540) and one letter to Charles Conder (21 June 1901) bought at Phillips on 9 November 1995 (lot 425). Both purchases are in a volume, NLW MS 23410C, which also contains a recent donation of two letters from Augustus to Dorelia.
The catalogue also refers to some Augustus John correspondence within the Gwen John Papers, including twenty-seven letters from Augustus to Gwen (NLW MS 22305D); forty-eight letters from Augustus to his son Edwin (NLW MS 22312D); and one letter to Dorelia McNeill (NLW MS 22311D). In the Gwen John Papers these items are listed with a C and not a D.
The Schedule of Gwen John papers purchased in 1984 and 1987, compiled by Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan in 1988, lists diaries (NLW MSS 22276–8A); notebooks (NLW MSS 22279–92); loose notes (NLW MSS 22293–6); sketches (NLW MS 22297–9); draft letters from Gwen John (NLW MSS 22300–3); letters to Gwen John (NLW MSS 22304–11); miscellaneous letters (NLW MS 22311C); letters to her nephew Edwin John (NLW MSS 22312–13C); Estate of Gwen John correspondence (NLW MSS 22314–15); photographs (NLW MS 22316C); and miscellaneous papers (NLW MSS 22317–18). Included as an appendix is a calendar of other Gwen John letters at the National Library of Wales: seven letters to Michel Salaman (NLW MSS 14930C, 14931C); approximately seventy letters to Ursula Tyrwhitt (NLW MS 21468D); three letters to Augustus John; and four letters to Dorelia McNeill (NLW MS 22155B). See also Ceridwen Lloyd-Morgan, Gwen John Papers at the National Library of Wales (1988), and Augustus John Papers at the National Library of Wales (1996).
Pembrokeshire Record Office, Haverfordwest
Correspondence to Douglas James.
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
Two letters to Grant Murray, and one (copy) to Winifred Combe Tennant.
Tenby Museum and Art Gallery
Two letters to Wilfred Harrison, one to the museum, one to his father E. W. John (22 September 1934), and one letter to Mrs Cazalet (23 September 1939). There is also a box of miscellaneous items, including books won by Augustus at school and some music composed by E. W. John.
SCOTLAND
Special Collection Library, University of Glasgow
Thirty-six letters to D. S. MacColl, 1900–45.
IRELAND
National Library of Ireland, Dublin
Letter to Hugh Lane (Hugh Lane Papers MSS 13071–2).
ENGLAND
British Library, London
Correspondence to: Lady Aberconway (formerly McLaren) 1924–59, Add. MS 52556 ff. 25–114; Cecil Gray 1933–41, Add. MS 57785 ff. 72–7; Bernard Shaw 1915–44, Add. MS 50539 ff. 28–38; T. E. Shaw (Lawrence) 1929, Add. MS 45904 f. 83; Society of Authors 1944–7, Add. MS 63278 ff. 112–20; Marie Stopes 1943–56, Add. MS 58543 ff. 105–40. There is also correspondence from Augustus, Dorelia, Edwin, Poppet, Romilly and Caspar John to Lytton Strachey 1913–31, Add. MS 60672 ff. 1–45.
Dorset County Museum, Dorchester
One letter to Thomas Hardy.
Modern Archive Centre, King’s College Library, Cambridge
Correspondence to Clive Bell, Vanessa Bell, J. M. Keynes, Rosamond Lehmann, Lydia Lopokova. There are also references to John in Duncan Grant’s ‘Paris Memoir’.
Liverpool City Library
Correspondence to Harold Chaloner Dowdall and the Hon. Mary Dowdall 1901–54 (920 DOW). See also Sandon Studies Society papers (Acc. 4096).
Liverpool University Library
Reilly papers. Seventeen letters from Augustus John to Charles Reilly and one from Dorelia (D.207/40/51–67. D.207/40/68).
Gypsy Lore Society Archive. Correspondence to Dora Yates and John Sampson (GLS D.Y., D.9).
John Sampson Library. Letters on Sampson’s retirement, death and sale of books (S.P.11,12,14).
Liverpool University Library MSS letter to William Garmon Jones (MS 5.26).
Scott Macfie Collection. Correspondence to Scott Macfie.
Imperial War Museum, London
Correspondence to Campbell Dodgson and Grant Richards.
National Portrait Gallery, London
Correspondence to Evan Charteris (NPG 2362) and single letters to Charles Kingsley Adams (NPG 2910) and Mrs Dorothy Garthwaite (later Burns).
The Royal College of Surgeons of England, London
Correspondence to Herbert Barker.
British Broadcasting Corporation Written Archives Centre, Caversham
Correspondence to the BBC 1941–61. There is also the script of a talk John gave in the Far Eastern Service series I Speak for Myself (10 September 1949), as well as scripts for his television interview with John Freeman in the Face to Face series (1960) and with Malcolm Muggeridge for Panorama (1957). There is also a programme production file for an abortive film profile in 1951–2.
Royal Academy of Arts, London
Correspondence with Gerald Kelly and one letter from Dorelia to Kelly.
Royal Society of Portrait Painters, London
One letter to Maurice Codner.
Special Collections, National Art Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Correspondence to Boris Anrep (86.PP.12), Sydney Cockerell (86.UU.3–4), I. Spielmann (86.PP.17), and two unknown correspondents (MS.L. 49–1984; 86.WW.1).
Department of Western Manuscripts, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
Single letters to Isidore Spielmann, 1905 (MS. Eng. misc.d.87, fol.323), J. L. Boston, 1949 (MS. Autogr. d.30, fol.63), Lionel Curtis (with two letters from Curtis regarding John’s 1919 sketch of T. E. Lawrence. MS. Curtis 97, fols.31–40). There is also a letter of reference from John for Ernst Stern, 1940 (MS. S.P.S.L. 555, fol.·344), and a reference to John in a letter of W. B. Yeats, 1927 (MS.Eng.lett. c.650, fols.1–2).
University of Reading Library, White knights, Reading
In the Jonathan Cape archive there are approximately one hundred and thirty letters (with some copies of replies and supporting material such as book reviews) from Augustus John to Cape himself, his business partner George Wren Howard, John’s editor Daniel George, and Cape’s secretary Menina Mesquita. There are two letters from John to Chatto & Windus, and one to Professor D. J. Gordon. There are also copies of some of John’s contracts and a report by William Plomer on an early draft of Chiaroscuro.
Leeds City Art Gallery
One letter to Philip Hendy.
Record Office, House of Lords, London
Correspondence with Lord Beaverbrook (1918 and 1928, and one reference by Beaverbrook to Finishing Touches in 1964). There is also an exchange of letters in April 1941 between Beaverbrook and Walter Monckton, who suggested John be commissioned to paint portraits of cabinet ministers (Beaverbrook Papers D.344).
Tate Gallery Archives, London
Correspondence to Henry Lamb 1907 and 1913–14 (TAM 15B 32–43/52) and to Charles Rutherston 1902–6 (TAM 49 49/2); autobiographical fragments, articles, press cuttings and manuscri
pt drafts of John’s writings (TAM 21E and 21F 3–38/67); letters to Dorelia I930–3 (TAM 21H 67/67). There are also letters to John from Wyndham Lewis with transcriptions 1948–52 (TAM 21D 1–2/67) and one hundred and forty-three letters from other correspondents (TAM 21G 39–66/ 67).
UNITED STATES
Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin
Correspondence to Jocelyn Brooke, [Dora] Carrington, Willard Connely, Cyril Connolly, Rupert Croft-Cooke, Nancy Cunard, St John Ervine, Richard Garnett, Nina Hamnett, Barbara Hiles (later Bagenal), J. M. Hone, David Hughes, Mary Hutchinson, Robin John, John Lehmann, E. V. Lucas, Lillah McCarthy (a.k.a. Granville-Barker, later Lady Keeble), Compton Mackenzie, J. B. Manson, Ottoline Morrell, Philip Morrell, Edward Nehls, Herman Ould of PEN, Mr Pickward, T. F. Powys, Grant Richards, R. A. Scott-James, Edith Sitwell, John Symonds, H. M. Tomlinson, Henry Tonks. There are also some fragments of John’s autobiography at Texas.
New York Public Library, Department of Manuscripts and Berg Collection
Correspondence to Ronald Firbank, Lady Gregory, Robert Gregory, Tania Jepson, John Quinn, Edith Sitwell. There is also John’s contribution to Max Beerbohm’s Eightieth Birthday Album; and two letters to J. B. Manson in the Mitchell Kennerley Papers.
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